By the White Windowsill
by xiangli
Summary: Based on WandererP's By The White Windowsill, sung by Kaito Shion. After a long war, Ymir finds herself giving up on life. But an angel takes her hand and pulls her to a new world - one of music and joy. Ymir x Krista.


**Even though this is based on By The White Windowsill, it doesn't really go with the lyrics. Instead, I based it on the video. I work better with visuals, to be honest. Video: (Youtube) /watch?v=8pluQQW9Zkk#t=24**

**I suggest watching the video first, but it's not necessary. Hope you enjoy.**

**Oh yeah, this is in Ymir's POV.**

* * *

_I'm tired of fighting..._

It was my only thought, at the time. Years, decades, perhaps a century had gone by. All of that time spent in war, watching people die, killing to stay alive, and for what?

At that point, it felt like nothing.

All I had wanted to do was fall asleep and never wake up. I let my eyes close slowly, allowing my head to fall to the ground...

"Hm? Ah, Hanji? I found a survivor. She's still breathing."

I opened an eye, my vision already blurry again from fatigue.

"Good work, Krista!" Another voice. "Try to get her to wake up. If she can walk, get her over here!"

The first voice shouted an affirmative, then I saw the person turn towards me again. My sight finally focused, and I saw her.

I was - and I still am - positive that she was a goddess.

She was petite, much smaller than me, definitely not meant for fighting a war, not meant to be on a battlefield in general. Her hair was pure gold, it seemed, shining in the remaining sun rays of the evening. Her eyes were like the afternoon sky, looking down at me with a concerned expression.

The expression turned into a smile. "Hi," she said softly. "Can you take my hand? We're getting out of here."

I silently raised my hand to take hers, but hesitated. It was covered in red, not worthy of touching those angelic fingers in front of me.

She smiled a bit more, encouragingly. "It's okay." She closed the remaining distance between our hands, grasping mine with a surprising amount of strength. "Any bad injuries, before I pull you up?"

I shook my head. She nodded, pulling me up to my feet. I stood shakily, wanting more than anything to just lay back down on the ground. But she, my angel, refused to let me fall. Instead, she let me lean on her while we limped to where the rest of her group was. 

* * *

No one that I was familiar with survived. Frankly, we were the losing army, and I had doubted my own survival during that final battle. The head nurse, Hanji, treated all of the survivors to the best of her ability.

Because my side had lost, I had no home to return to. It had all been swallowed by the victors, taking all that we had into their wings. Krista let me stay at her residence. I would never stop thanking her.

"This is your room," she said, her quiet voice still so beautiful to my ears. I looked around. It was simple - a bed in the corner, a desk near the door, and a large window opposite the desk. All of it was white.

"Are you sure this isn't heaven?" I asked jokingly.

"It's not much, you know," she replied modestly. "Besides, you said that you're practically immortal, remember? You're not dying anytime soon, Ymir."

"This comes pretty darn close to heaven, I think," I said. "The white is nice, something that I'd imagine heaven to be. And here you are, my personal guardian angel."

She laughed. "This could be heaven for you, then."

I laughed along, leaning down and giving her a kiss to the cheek. She smiled back up at me, standing on her tiptoes and giving me a kiss in return. 

* * *

"You play guitar?"

Krista nodded, holding the instrument close. "Not very well, though."

"Can I hear?"

She smiled, thinking for a moment, then strumming a few chords. Eventually, her voice joined in, creating a harmony that only the great choir in heaven would be able to come close to.

I watched Krista play, the music lighting her up even more than the morning sun.

_One step closer..._

The song came to an end, and I applauded loudly, trying to make up for an audience that wasn't there. She smiled shyly, taking a mock bow.

"It was pretty, you know," I remarked.

"Easy, too. Here, let me teach you!" Krista practically threw the guitar at me. I looked at the instrument nervously.

"Oh come on, it's not going to bite," Krista said. She curled her left hand around mine, guiding my fingers to the correct places. "That's a 'G' chord."

That was how the lessons went, with Krista molding my fingers into the chords and me strumming them slowly. I never did really learn the chords though. I enjoyed the feel of her hand on mine way too much. 

* * *

Years passed. Krista got older and older, and I seemed to stay the same age. I watched as she matured, becoming a wonderful woman. She never kicked me out, though.

"Aren't you going to find someone to love at some point?" I asked one day. It was a question that I had been avoiding to ask, but she was entering her forties. "I bet all the guys stare at you."

"Hm... I can't deny that I see people staring," she admitted. "But I think I already found someone."

"Who is it?" I demanded.

"Someone you know very well," she said simply.

"The only person I know very well is you, Krista!"

"You know yourself, silly!"

I stopped suddenly. "I, um, wait, you, er, what?!"

"The person I love the most is you, Ymir," Krista laughed and poked my forehead. "And I'm not going to replace you!"

I sighed in relief. She was still laughing, snippets of sentences falling out of her mouth, like "I can't believe you didn't know" and "I thought it was obvious!" 

* * *

I should have known that it wouldn't work.

I wasn't lying that day, when I told her that I was practically immortal. And she was right - I wasn't dying anytime soon. She was reaching the end of her life, and mine was barely reaching its peak.

I watched as she lay there, in bed, unable to sit up properly anymore. "Ymir, you're still there, right?"

"Mm," I replied, kissing her wrinkled cheek. She smiled.

"Could you get the guitar for me?"

I obeyed, giving the instrument to her. She thrust it back at me. "Play, you moron."

"Eh?" I stammered. "Don't you...?"

"I want to hear you play, Ymir."

I sighed, taking the guitar back and thinking for a bit, before deciding again. It was the song that she first taught me.

_"That's a 'G' chord..."_

I strummed the strings softly and sang. She smiled, closing her eyes.

It was the last time that she moved before falling into an eternal sleep.

_I'll love you for a thousand years..._

_I'll love you for a thousand more._

* * *

And I was left alone for many years. Time no longer mattered to me anymore - a day could feel like a year or vice versa. All I wanted was for it all to end.

I sat by the white windowsill, the one that Krista and I used to sit by and play the guitar together. Autumn had just begun - the season of separation, shown by the falling leaves. The memory of Krista's death came to mind, but I pushed it away, opening the window instead.

A white bird flew inside, startling me. It landed on the guitar, the instrument that I had set against the wall next to the window, left to gather dust. The guitar fell to my feet, the bird sitting on top of the strings.

As though it was encouraging me to play.

_"I want to hear you play, Ymir..."_

I took the guitar, finally, and the bird flew off, resting on top of my head. Still waiting for the music to begin.

I guided my fingers to their places, the movement somehow empty without Krista's hand to show me where to go.

G chord.

_One step closer._

The bird chirped happily, approving the beginning. The sound ended abruptly. _Well, go on!_ it seemed to say.

I sighed, smiling slightly, then let my voice hit the air and my fingers strummed along.

_All along, I believed I would find you._

_Time has brought your heart to me_

_I have loved you for a thousand years..._

_I'll love you for a thousand more._

* * *

**Huh. I ended up using some of Christina Perri's A Thousand Years as well. I've had that stuck in my head for a while.**

**Thanks for reading.**


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